Easy Vegetable Cream Cheese

I dunno about you, but I love cream cheese. On stuff. In stuff. By itself. Cream cheese is so incredibly yummy.

The only thing better than cream cheese? Flavored cream cheese. Especially veggie cream cheese. But the chunks in Philadelphia are too small and Dunkin Donuts uses light and Breuggers is way too expensive.

So what does Rayne do? Why, I made my own! And it’s really simple so I don’t want to hear any grumbling!

Let the Philly soften. Lots of people will tell you to toss it in the blender, but it’s really not necessary. Just let it sit on the counter for a little while. Not long. Just till it’s soft to the touch and easy to work with.

I don’t have a food processor, so I finely diced everything, tossed the cheese, veggies and garlic salt in a mixing bowl (I made sure to use one with a lid so I could just pop the top on and stick it in the fridge.) and stirred.

You could probably chop the veggies in a food processor no problem. And if you’re really not interested in mixing, use a hand mixer with a paddle on it instead of those spinny things that look like they could take off a finger if they’re going fast enough. That way, you don’t puree your veggies.

You can serve right away, but for the best flavor, let it sit in the fridge a couple hours (overnight is best) first.

You don’t have to use Philadelphia Cream Cheese, but believe me when I say it’s well worth the price. Philly is, without a doubt, cheesier than any generic brand I’ve tried.

Have everything but the green onion? Chop up about a quarter of a white, yellow or red onion instead. And the different colored peppers are more for show than flavor, though red peppers tend to taste slightly different.

I’ve seen recipes with radishes and leeks in them, too. I’m not so hot on radishes and I’ve never had leeks, so I promptly ignored them. But if you try it, let me know!